Kids Games
by SorcererTech
Summary: Pepper and his older sister Chilli go to the park to play with their friends. But not everything goes as planned. /Oneshot/ /OC/


"Bam! Pew pew pew!"

A quiet breeze flowed through the air as the summer warmth lit up the grass with evening hues of gold and amber. The leaves in the trees rustled above head, waving back and forth, the patterns of shade below them gently changing. The drone of crickets spread throughout the park and mingled with children's laughter, the kids in the area spread out amongst their various activities.

"Boom! Clink, clink."

The park was big, with metal playground equipment sitting near the far edge, surrounded by shredded bits of red mulch. The slides and monkey bars gleamed as the light reflected off of them, their space empty, abandoned in favor of the open field opposite them. Paperbarks surrounded it, a single elm tree breaking up the pattern, sitting opposite the metal structures. It was as if nature wanted to add a freckle or two to the face of this child's playplace, a choice that was complimented by the faded road that sat atop the gentle hill the elm jutted out from.

"Argh! You got me!"

Chittering beneath that elm was a small red heeler, gleefully knocking about the plastic toys in his cream colored paws. "I've been duf-eated," he said, making a face as he slammed a purple shark down. He leapt up, taking the other one with him as he did. "Hah! I saved the world!" The pup giggled as he spun around. He'd done it, the evil was defeated! And yet, his heroism wasn't finished yet. He sat back down, letting his turtle talk to his slain adversary.

"You know, you can still be good, and then we can be friends!"

"Really?" he said, making as gruff a voice he could manage. "Okay, let's be friends!"

"Great," the turtle responded, "now we can save the world… Together!" The red heeler tossed his arms up, laughing as he threw his toys to either side of him. "Frogs and Jemmy, friends forever..." He quickly regathered the two, planning out another adventure, his tail rhythmically swinging behind him.

"Hey Pepper." The pup looked up, seeing three dogs standing a stones throw away from him. He tossed them a smile, still playing as he did.

"Oh, hi Chip!" Chip, the one in front, was a jack russell terrier. He was holding a red kickball under his arm. The dog had a large brown spot over his right eye, the rest of his fur smattered with a few light tan blotches. The spot over Chip's eye always reminded Pepper of his own spots.

"Do you know where Chilli is?"

Pepper put his toys down for a moment and thought. "Um, I think she's by the swings..." His smile turned into a grin as he became more sure of himself. "She's playing with Luna." The four dogs glanced over towards the playground equipment, seeing another red heeler doing jump rope with an ash gray poodle. Their rhymes could be faintly heard from across the park as they each held one end of the rope.

"Peel a banana upside down, see if you can touch the ground..." The two grinned widely as they attempted to do just that without the jump rope tripping them up.

Chip's tail started going. "Great!" He turned towards his friends as he started towards Chilli and Luna. "Andy, hold the ball for a minute, I'm gonna go see if Chilli wants to join us." Chip tossed the kickball towards them, the ball bouncing off the grass with a 'poomf' sound before Andy caught it. The two remaining dogs turned to face Pepper as Chip's footsteps faded. The little heeler finally took a better look at them.

Andy was a golden lab, his fur a dusty yellow. Pepper had seen some labs with lush and shimmering coats, but this wasn't like that. Andy's fur was like the fuzz on a well loved teddy bear, a little rough and tumble. He was a bit tall too. Maybe he liked sports? The other dog looked like a corgi, but Pepper sometimes had had trouble telling dog breeds apart. He had short legs though and an orange and white coat of fur. He reminded pepper a bit of an orange cream popsicle, if it had straight lines.

The corgi gave him a grin. "So, you're Pepper, eh?"

Pepper nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm Pepper!"

The lab chortled a bit in response. "Nice to meet ya," he said, shifting the ball to his side. "I'm Andy, and this guy is Rex." Rex waved at the introduction. The corgi knelt down a little in front of Pepper, careful not to step on his toys.

"Hey, Pepper, do you wanna kick the ball around with us?" He grinned at Andy as he asked. "Maybe you can join us and Chip afterwards for some Zooper Doopers." Andy gave Rex a bit of a push, almost knocking him over.

"Oh, come on, look at him, he's too small, he might get hurt." He chuckled. "And besides, you know I like Sunnyboys."

Rex stood back up, regaining his balance before giving Andy a playful push in return. "Yeah, yeah, I know, Sunnyboys." He said, grinning as he turned back towards Pepper. "But, yeah, you might be right." He looked over the pup again, as if confirming his size. "Sorry Pepper!"

"It's okay." Pepper didn't mind, he knew he was little. Ball games weren't exactly his strong suit anyway. "I can have fun playing with my friends!" The pup giggled as he held up the shark and turtle. "We're going on a-venchers!"

Rex's eyes lit up as he sat down in front of Pepper. He reached out a paw towards the shark. "Oh, you've got Overbite? He's one of my faves!"

"Huh?" Pepper was confused. "Ovah-bite?" He handed the shark over to Rex, curious. "What's Ovah-bite?"

Rex carefully turned the toy around, taking a look at the coloring and the little gun it was holding, Andy leaning forward to look at it over his shoulder. "Yeah, Overbite! He's this bad guy who hunts in the seas with the Decepticons. They go after Autobots, who're the good guys." The corgi started moving the arms about, trying to figure out how to transform it. "He's a Transformer."

Pepper took in this information. He hunted in the seas and fought duhspiticons! That sounded kinda cool! But, wait, what about... "No, no," he said, taking the shark back. "Jemmy and Frogs are friends!" He picked up the turtle and held it together with the shark. "They're good guys and they fight the bad guys! Rawr!" Pepper grinned as he made the shark roar, then mimed the two critters sauntering off towards another adventure. His tail swayed happily behind him.

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Frogs? Pepper, that's a turtle." He huffed a little, briefly glancing towards Chilli and Chip to see how things were going. It looked like Luna had already left. It was just Chilli and Chip now, standing over by the swings and talking. "And who likes Transformers anyway?" He let out a quiet snort. "That's for kids."

Both Rex and Pepper looked up towards him. There was a pause before Rex stood back up again. "U-um, yeah, you're right, it's for kids." The corgi stuttered a little as he talked. Pepper slowly stopped moving his toys around as he looked up at the two dogs. What was going on?

"Are you into that show?" Andy asked.

"W-what? No, of course not!" Rex raised his voice a little. "It's just a little kids show."

"Yeah," Andy agreed, proud of himself. "It's just a dumb little kids show." A smirk crossed the lab's face, like he'd spoken some unmistakable truth. His tail slowly swung back and forth. Of course he was right, it was Transformers!

"Yeah!" Rex agreed, "a kids show!" The corgi turned towards Pepper. "Why do you like a dumb little kids show, huh?" Andy froze for a moment as Rex pestered the pup. There was a small moment of silence while the two waited for a response.

Pepper just sat there for a moment. "...Huh?"

The red heeler's response seemed to jolt Andy out of his temporary trance. "Y-yeah, why _do_ you like a dumb little kids show? What are you, a stupid little baby?"

"Yeah!" Rex reiterated, getting louder by the moment. "A dumb little baby?"

"Look at this dumb little kid!" Andy didn't even wait until Rex was finished before he started. "Stupid little baby."

"Stupid stupid baby!"

"Watching dumb little stupid shows!"

Pepper pushed his back up against the elm behind him. These kids were scaring him. Why were they yelling at him? What did he do?

Rex took a few steps towards him, picking up the shark as he did. "You're just a dumb little stupid baby with dumb little toys who likes stupid little shows!" Every word was a little louder than the last, the corgi getting angrier with every step. "Who'd want to hang out," he said, looking down at the shark in his hands, "with someone stupid like you?!"

With a burst of anger, Rex smashed the toy over his knee, it's arm splintering as the joints snapped, pieces falling to the ground.

"Hey!"

Rex whipped around at the sound of footsteps. Chilli was running towards them, furious, with Chip not far behind. "What the heck are you doing?!" Without stopping, she barreled towards Rex, knocking him over with as much force as she could muster. "Those are my toys!" Chilli walked over to stand next to the pup. "Why did you break that?!" Pepper's eyes were starting to water.

"What happened?" Chip ran over to Rex, helping Andy to pick him up. Rex quickly shoved them off.

"Transformers are stupid!" Rex's voice wavered a little as he shouted. "They're stupid little baby's toys."

"Y-yeah," Andy agreed. He seemed quieter, like something had changed. "They're just little kids toys, aren't they?" The lab was silent for a moment before looking towards Chilli, who was already giving the two of them as harsh of a look as she could.

"Those are my toys," she reiterated, the anger clear on her face. "I was letting Pepper borrow them!" Andy looked over towards Chip in response, his eyes hovering on him as he waited for a response. The terrier looked over at Chilli before quickly glancing between Rex and Andy.

"I mean, yeah, Transformers are pretty dumb…"

Rex was utterly fed up. "Yeah, they're dumb," he shouted. "And if you like them, you're probably dumb too, like Pepper!" His arm trembled as he pointed an accusatory finger at the two siblings. "Transformers are just kids games," he said, shaking. "They're dumb, they're stupid, and I hate them!" Rex took a wild kick towards the broken toy, barely missing the body, his foot connecting with the broken arm instead. The colored plastic pieces shot past Chilli and smacked Pepper square in the face.

For a moment the entire park was silent, like a long abandoned town, the rustle of the leaves overhead the only sound anyone heard. And then Pepper started to whine as tears began to run down his face, curling up and pulling his knees close in an attempt to protect himself from anything and everything. Andy winced as the pup started crying, his sobs echoing through the park. No one moved, they were all too shocked to react.

Then Chilli let out an ear piercing cry, lunging towards Rex with her fists balled tightly. She managed to get in one solid hit on the corgi's muzzle, her fist connecting with a disjointed smack, before Andy and Chip started dragging him away from the scene as fast as their legs could carry them. Rex only managed to get his footing by the time that the three of them were halfway across the park, Chilli screaming at them, hovering a few feet away from Pepper. She stood there, huffing, shaking, watching them disappear down a far pathway on the other side of the park, past the monkey bars, and past the old rusted fence, the rush of adrenaline slowly loosening it's grip on her.

As the footsteps faded into the distance, Chilli took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure, as she turned around to face her brother. Pepper was sobbing, his knees soaked, his fur matted, and his face nuzzled between his legs. His crying was the only sound in the park. Chilli sighed, making her way over to the little heeler.

"Hey," she said, kneeling down beside him, "you okay, Pep?" She gently placed her paw on his shoulder. Pepper didn't respond, but he slowly pulled his face out from his knees, looking over towards his sister. His eyes were so blurred she couldn't even tell their color anymore. The evening sun hung low in the sky, and as its golden hue began to fade, the remaining light painted the two of them as they looked at each other, the color almost at odds with the scene taking place. "Come on..." she said, taking his paw and slowly pulling him up. "Let's go home..."

Pulling him close to her, Chilli and Pepper slowly walked back past the elm tree, climbing the hill towards the road one step at a time, the smaller one clinging to his sister's side, and together, they headed towards home.


End file.
